The Raccoons: The Next Generation
by raccoonqueentwo
Summary: My proposed sequel to "Secrets and Heroes"! Join Justice Raccoon and his friends as they go to form a pop-rock band, to rock out the forest and save the universe! New-and-improved version.
1. Prologue

Hey, folks, raccoonqueentwo here. I don't need to explain anything much other than this is a re-upload of my still-unfinished Raccoons fanfic project. I hope you will love it as much as I do. However, there are going to be a lot of changes to the progression of the storyline; with the discovery of generator sites like Seventh Sanctum and ChaoticShiny, you'll notice new characters and new worlds you've never seen before.

And with that, sit back, relax. and enjoy the show!

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own "The Raccoons" or its characters. Justice Raccoon, Cyril Sneer II, and other characters belong to kobebeef. Cynthia Raccoon (Justice's older half-sister) and Delilah Blackmask (Cynthia's birth mother) belongs to Nicky4. Rocky and Ruby Raccoon (Ralph and Melissa's twins), Joanna Sneer (Cyril II's younger sister), Lennie Carlson, and other OCs belong to me.

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><p>Prologue<p>

February 22, 1996

She was in pain. Serious pain. Everything that had happened since that afternoon on Evergreen Lake was a blur for Lisa Raccoon. She knew that day would come...and she had been ready for it.

The moment she was brought to the hospital, she was told to change into a pale-green hospital gown and then she was put in the labor/delivery room. Her mom later joined her; she was to be there to comfort her daughter, as well as give her words of encouragement. As she watched the doctors and nurses get everything ready for the birth, checking the monitor she was hooked up to every now and then, Lisa tried to ward off the pain by thinking back on all the great memories she had with her family and friends...especially with her husband Bert.

"_Hi, I'm Lisa...Bentley's sister...so you're Bert_..."

Another hard contraction knocked Lisa right off focus and she groaned, gripping the sides of the bars of her hospital bed. Nicole laid a paw on her shoulder and whispered reassuringly, "Do not worry, Lisa. It will be all over soon." Lisa nodded; she then tried to fix her focus back on the memories, even as the contractions became harder and faster.

"_...we were meant for each other_..."

Suddenly, her daydream was interrupted once again by the commotion going on in the room. How long had it been since she went into labor? Four hours? Six hours? It didn't really matter how long it was, because she knew it was time. The doctor, who sat at the edge of the bed, instructed Lisa to push and she did just that, holding her breath. As she did so, one more memory drifted through her mind, the one she loved most of all.

"_Lisa, we have been through thick and thin, and there's no other woman on this Earth that I want to spend the rest of my days with. Will you marry me?_"

Finally, there was a small sharp cry and Lisa released her breath in a heavy sigh. She looked up to see the doctor holding up a squirming baby raccoon kit and showing it to her. He said with a smile, "Congratulations, Mrs. Raccoon. You have a healthy baby boy."

Lisa took a good look at the baby, who was now being cleaned up and wrapped in a white blanket. He had a small bent nose and straight ears, but his eyes were definitely Bert's. She smiled, took the baby, and cradled him in her arms. The nurse said, "So...what are you going to name him?"

She thought hard at hearing the question. With all those things everyone had been through, including the day she had been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend David Blackmask, Lisa felt that she wanted a name for her baby that reflected those dramatic moments. Plus, she also wanted her newborn son to have a bright future-maybe one day he'd grow up to be the most amazing raccoon in the Evergreen Forest, just like Bert was.

She smiled, before gazing into the baby's raven-black eyes and whispering, "I'll call him Justice...Justice Raccoon."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_17 YEARS LATER..._

It was a cool summer night in the Evergreen Forest, and crowds of people gathered around the Forest Bowl to fill up the aisles. They were there for only one thing-there's a big concert going on that they couldn't afford to miss. As they waited patiently for the performers to show up onstage, a name of one of the performers filled the air in a loud chant: "Justice! Justice! Justice! Justice!"

Backstage, a group of three raccoons and an aardvark were getting their musical instruments ready. One of them, a 17-year-old male raccoon, was tuning up his guitar; he had straight ears, a bent nose, and black eyes. He carefully turned the knobs and, plucking one string each, made sure the guitar sounded right. Next to him, setting up the electric piano, was a male aardvark who was the same age as him. Nearby, a pair of raccoons were trying to help each other set up the drums; one was a boy and the other a girl, and both of them were also the same age.

Then, a backstage aide walked in. He said, "Mr. Raccoon, you and the others are up in minus two minutes. Are you ready yet?"

"Give us ten more minutes," replied the raccoon, nodding his head towards the two raccoons. "Rocky and Ruby are still having trouble with the drum kit."

And just as he said that, there was a loud crash of a couple of drums and a cymbal; they turned around to see both said raccoons lying under a pile of what was supposed to be a drum kit, which had collapsed.

"ROCKY!" shouted Ruby, lifting the cymbal off of her head and tossing it. "I told you not to drop the cymbals! We were supposed to set the drum kit _up_, not down like that!"

"Well, excuse me, sis," replied Rocky sarcastically. "Am I too clumsy enough for you to notice that I can't carry a snare drum, a tom-tom drum, _and_ a bass drum all at once?"

"Look who's talking, Mr. Butter Fingers! We promised Mom and Dad that we'd take care of it; the drum kit alone used to be our dad's when he was in a band! If he finds out there's a dent in one of these cymbals..."

"But it's _your_ fault! None of this would've happened if you hadn't had the nerve to just bump into me!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"_NO_!"

"_YES_!"

The male raccoon whistled loudly to get the twins' attention, interrupting their argument. He said, "Both of you, calm down. We've got a concert to make, and there is absolutely no time for a feud; I don't care whose fault it is, so long as you try again and get the drum kit back up before the ten minutes are up."

"Sorry, Justice," replied Rocky. He and Ruby went back to attempting to set the drum kit up. The raccoon turned to the male aardvark and continued, "How's the crowd out there, Cy?"

"It's a big one," replied the aardvark. "Or, better yet, a HUMONGOUS one!"

"Cy" was the short nickname the raccoon gave to his lifelong best buddy, Cyril Sneer II. The raccoon, in question, was none other than Justice Raccoon, the son of Bert and Lisa Raccoon.

Going to pick up her keytar, Ruby said, "All right, we finally got the drums up. When do we start?"

"Whenever we're ready," replied Justice, picking up his guitar and slinging it over his shoulders. "We have eight minutes left now; until then, let's warm up for a bit." Turning to the backstage aide, he continued, "And let the emcee know we're on our way."

"Gotcha," answered the aide with a salute, and ran off.

Back outside, the audience were still waiting for the band to come out. At last, all the lights began shutting off quickly, with the exception of a spotlight moving around the empty stage. The emcee boomed, "Laaaaaaadiiiies and gentlemen, boys and girls, dudes and duuuuuuudettes! Are you ready to rock?"

"YEAH!" the audience roared.

"Are you ready to boogie?"

The audience cheered even louder. The emcee continued, "All right! Then let's hear it for the newest kids on our block-the Evergreen Alllllllll-Staaaaaaaaars! Cyril Sneer II..."

The spotlight stopped moving and shifted over to reveal Cy, playing a few energetic notes on his synthesizer keyboard.

"...Rocky and Ruby Raccoon..."

Yet another spotlight came on, focusing on the two raccoons doing a short drum and keytar solo.

"...and now, the ringleader of all the All-Stars, the sweet, the elite...JUSTICE RACCOOOOOOOON!"

The audience cheered wildly as Justice walked out towards the front center of the stage, proudly toting the light-blue guitar on his side. Once he got there, he looked around at the crowd with a smile, before nodding at his bandmates. He took a deep breath and shouted, "Ready? One...two...one, two, three!"

On "three", Rocky hit the drums and they began the song, performing their version of "Calling You". The audience began dancing and clapping their hands to the beat; even there were some fangirls squealing and screaming excitedly, holding up large signs with big letters that read, "I Love The All-Stars!" or "Marry Me, Justice!"

Justice chuckled, before he leaned closer to the microphone and started singing. By the time the song ended, the audience gave a round of applause and the band responded by taking a bow individually. Once more, the audience chanted, "Justice! Justice! Justice! Justice!"

He grinned, knowing he and his friends had instantly impressed them. But, amongst the cheer of the crowd, someone else's voice rang in the air.

_"Justice...Justice...Justice...Justice, honey, wake up..."_

In his bedroom, his mother Lisa stood over her sleeping son. She looked no more than 40 years old and was no longer the young raccoon she used to be, but she was still just as beautiful. She had long fur-hair draped all the way to her shoulders, and she was wearing a mauve sweater with dark-blue jeans. Bending down to gently shake him, she said, "Come on, Justice, wake up! You're gonna be late for school!"

Justice quickly sat up in bed, startled out of his wits. He put his paw on his chest and breathed heavily, before looking up at her. He muttered, "Wow...what a dream...and you just had to wake me up when I was about to sign autographs for my fans..."

"Having one of those fantasy dreams again?" asked Lisa.

"Sorry, Mom. I must have been sleeping too hard, then...what time is it? Is it 6:00 already?"

"No, it's 8:05."

He looked at the digital clock on the nightstand and his eyes widened in horror. His mom was right-he _is_ late for school! In a flash, he bolted towards the dresser and got out his clothes to put on. He shouted, "No...no, no, NO! Aww, man, I'm gonna be late! Why didn't you wake me up earlier when you were supposed to? This is _so_ not good at all..."

Lisa watched as Justice pulled out a white T-shirt and a pair of light-blue jeans. "What's the rush? Are you worried about something?"

"The Mountainview High School Talent Show," replied Justice, taking his clothes to the bathroom. "It's coming this week. I'm gonna meet up with Cy and the others, so we could practice for the event."

He went to close the door to take a shower. Lisa tried to get in, but he slammed it shut before she could do so. Inside, he continued, "My lifelong goal is to form a band and become a famous rock star. I already know the true price of fame, but who's spending all the money on it, anyway? Dad was a great musician once, and I plan to follow in his footsteps one day. That's what I have been dreaming about, before you woke me."

"But the talent show isn't until _next_ week."

Justice got back out of the bedroom, now clad in the clothes he had picked out. "...next week?"

"Check the calendar."

He went back to his bedroom and checked the calendar on his wall. Sure enough, the talent show was scheduled for next week, on the first of March. Then he looked back at February and noticed that today was the 22nd-his 17th birthday had come.

"It's my birthday," he muttered.

Lisa walked over to him and said, "Happy birthday, sweetheart. I can't believe you're growing up so fast already; next thing we know, you'll be 18 next year and gone to college."

"Yeah, but...as much as I anticipate becoming an adult, I still don't want to leave everything behind. Not even my friends."

"There'll be new friends when you get to the university."

"And chances are I'll forget about my old ones. Mom, you _have_ to understand that sometimes I just can't let things go, even though I'm old enough to assume new responsibilities and accept new things. Remember that stuffed teddy bear I used to have ever since I was a baby?"

They looked over at an old, worn-out light-brown stuffed bear in the corner of the room. Lisa went over to pick it up and gazed at it; the toy showed signs of wear and tear done to it over the years, with stitches in various places and one glass eye missing. She whispered, "Oh, Ruffin...I thought you had put it in the attic a long time ago. Why didn't you do it?"

"He _was_ my favorite toy," recalled Justice sadly. "I've had him for as long as I can remember. I just couldn't bear to let him go."

"Well, it has been lying around unwanted for some time. I think you should drop it off at a nearby homeless shelter..."

"NO!"

She was startled at his reply. From the tone of his voice she could tell he still wanted his old stuffed bear more than anything else in the world; however, she was uncertain. "You...still want to keep it? But you're a teenager now, Justice-I don't think you'd have any use for it any more."

Justice nodded. "Only as a hand-me-down. You see, I still love having the bear...but I'd love it even more if I gave it away to someone close to me. Like, a child...maybe I might want to give it to my future son or daughter one day when the time is right."

"Why not give it to your sister? You've been giving her all of your old stuff over the years."

Justice cringed. He knew exactly who she meant-Jody Raccoon, the baby sister from hell.

Downstairs in the kitchen, a small five-year-old female raccoon kit was sitting at the table, eating her cereal. She had straight ears, a straight nose, and had light blue eyes; she was also wearing a pink shirt with blue overalls, and a pink bow on her head. Sitting across from her, reading a newspaper, was Bert Raccoon himself; like Lisa, he too has aged quite a lot, yet still retaining the youth he had in his day.

"Better hurry up and finish your cereal, Jody," said Bert, as he watched his young daughter eat spoonful after spoonful from her bowl. "You don't want to be late for school, do you?"

Jody swallowed and replied, "Course not, Daddy. I'm only taking my time; if I ate too fast, I'd be choking by now."

"Oh, very well, then. Go ahead and take it easy, so long as you get it done before your bus gets here."

"Okay. Hey, watch this!"

Bert looked over as Jody stuffed two spoons into her mouth and began getting down on her hands and knees, crawling around. She continued playfully, "Grrrrrr! I'm a hungry sabertooth tiger, and I'm gonna have raccoons for dinner! RAWR!"

"And I'm a ferocious T-Rex," he replied, joining in the fun. "And _I'm_ gonna eat sabertooth tigers like _you_ for dinner. But first...I'm gonna tickle'em!" "As he said that, he reached out and tickled Jody all over, sending squeals of laughter from the kit.

"Okay, okaaaaay! I give up! Now sabertooth tigers have to eat elephants instead!"

"You mean, _this_ elephant?"

He waved his arm around like a trunk and started making elephant sounds. Bert laughed-little Jody reminded him so much of Cynthia when she was younger; even when she had grown up and moved away, this little girl truly filled the void in his long-empty heart. While Bert and Jody were still playing around, Justice and Lisa came downstairs. Justice quickly passed by the kitchen table, saying, "Hi, Dad! Bye, Dad!"

"Hey, what's the hurry, Justice?" asked Bert.

"I'm rushing out to meet my bus, 'cause I'm gonna be late. If I'm not in class on time and I end up being tardy, I am toast!"

"Your bus already passed a couple of minutes ago."

Justice fumed, but then he sighed. "Fine, I'll take my bike, then." He bent down to open his backpack and checked to make sure all of his books were there, but one of them-an algebra book-wasn't. Glaring at his sister, he asked, "Jody...where's my book?"

Jody looked up at him. She replied, "What book?"

"My algebra book. I need it for my math class today."

"Oh..._that_ book. I think it's in the living room."

Justice went to check the living room; he looked under the couch, on the TV set, in the drawer, and everything in between. Nothing.

Coming back to the kitchen, he said, "It's not in the living room."

"Did you check the basement?"

He went down to scour the basement. Still nothing. "It's not there, either!"

"How about my room? It's probably under my bed somewhere..."

Upstairs, Justice checked under the bed in Jody's bedroom. All he found were just a bunch of dolls and stuffed animals. "Okay, so it's not under your bed..."

"You want a hint? I'll give you one: it's hidden in the one place where you least expect it."

"As long as it's not in the toilet, it'll be fine."

But when he got outside, he found the algebra book...lying in a puddle of mud...and smelling like moose dung! Frustrated at seeing his book all dirty, Justice glared at his sister, before putting the book into his backpack, and sprinting away on his bike. Jody only smirked even more, knowing that she pulled off yet another prank on her brother this morning.

Back inside, Bert continued to read the newspaper. He became surprised when he saw a photo depicting a middle-aged male fox in a business suit, standing among a group of other businessmen, smiling proudly and holding up a giant check. The headlines ran across the photo, with an article to go along with it.

**WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN TO OPEN UP NEW COMPANY; PLANS TO MOVE TO EVERGREEN**

_In a surprise move that would make Donald Trunk's leathery grey skin turn green with envy, corporate kingpin T.P. Carlson changed sides from the world of money to the world of entertainment by investing in plans to open up his first multimedia company in the Evergreen Forest. According to his financial advisers, his company (dubbed "Carlson Family Industries") will make history by offering the very best in internet, phone, music, television, and film-making services around the world._

_"My only main concern," he said, during a press conference in his hometown of New York, New York (in America). "Is the way people on earth entertain themselves. I'm sure customers don't need a bland variety of services from local stations; what they_ really _want is pure, high-quality entertainment from the company that knows it best-mine! And besides, I heard there's another media company around here...'Evergreen Enterprises', was it? Well, I also plan to initiate a peaceful merger with them by allowing my one and only daughter, Lenora, to be signed under their recording contract! Now, wouldn't_ that _be considered so nice?"_

He set the newspaper on the table and thought for a while, before heading towards the living room. He murmured, "A peaceful merger, huh? I wonder if it's any good..."

Lisa sat down beside him. She said, "Can we talk? It's about Justice."

"You'll never believe what's on the front page this morning. A businessman, T.P. Carlson, he's building a new multimedia building...right here in the Evergreen Forest! Now he's talking about initiating a peaceful merger with Evergreen Enterprises. I'd better go tell Cedric about this."

"Bert, let's change the subject for a while and talk about what's going on with our son."

"Okay...what is it that you wanted to know?"

"He told me about the Mountainview High Talent Show coming up next week. His dream was to become a famous rock star, and..."

Bert beamed at those words. He stammered with a smile, "A r-r-rock star? Boy, if he's anything like me, he'll definitely make a VERY good one! As long as it doesn't conflict with his other talents and it doesn't involve any drugs or a hard partying lifestyle, being a singer won't be that bad for him. I can lend him my old guitar, for starters."

Lisa replied, "Yes. But there's one other thing that concerned me the most."

Bert looked at Lisa; she was more depressed than concerned to him. "What?"

"...today is his birthday. He's 17, going on 18...but when I talked to him a moment ago about his going to college one day, he didn't seem willing to let everything go. He doesn't want to give up his friends...or his memories. It's as if he really doesn't want to grow up."

Bert chuckled. "Everybody has to grow up, Lisa, even me and you. I don't think anybody has ever suffered from having to leave their cherished memories behind..."

He paused to think, before looking over at the photo album on the table next to him; he reached out to grab it and opened it to look inside. Within the photo album were photos from the past and present-some featuring himself and Lisa, others with their family and friends. But what teared him up the most were the pictures of Justice in his younger days. He gazed at the old photo of Lisa holding Baby Justice in her arms at the hospital, taken the day he was born. Then he gazed at another photo of him at three years old, sitting on a shopping mall Santa's lap; the other ones were of seven-year-old Justice in the Little League, and himself and Bert on a fishing trip holding up a giant trout they had caught. Upon looking at the Little League photo, he could hear the voice of young Justice in his mind, shouting excitedly, _"Did you just see that, Dad? I finally got a home run!"_

"Then, yet again," he murmured sadly, closing the book. "Even at this age I'm not truly ready to let go. I'm not prepared for it."

Bert and Lisa sat alone in the living room. Then Jody walked in with Ruffin; she was now wearing a backpack. Tossing the stuffed bear at them, she said, "Hey, Mommy, Daddy, I think Justice left this in his room. Bye."

As soon as their daughter left the house to get on her bus, they gazed at the toy on the floor. Lisa picked it up to look at it, sighing and beginning to wonder if their son is definitely ready to leave them behind.

"Well...maybe he'll come back, even if it's just for a visit...and when he does...we'll be waiting for him."


End file.
